Reviews
[Review] Revived Shooter ‘PowerSlave Exhumed’ Brings Decent Alien Warfare to Egypt
Mummies, Marines, and an alien menace made PowerSlave stand out in the 90s. In Neil Bolt’s PowerSlave Exhumed review, he sees if this remaster holds up.
It’s pretty impressive how Nightdive Studios has successfully had a hand in reenergizing so many classic and cult games in recent years. System Shock, Shadow Man, Doom 64, Quake, and Turok are among the polished-up ports in its C.V. and there are upcoming remasters of Sin, Blade Runner, and System Shock 2, as well as a ground-up remake of the original System Shock. In the middle of all that, a cult hit is resurfacing.
PowerSlave (or Exhumed as it was known to me back in the day) was once a PC, PS One, and Sega Saturn first-person shooter just as that was still an embryonic concept. Now it’s back using both names and touched up without sacrificing the original style. It sits mechanically between Doom and Quake, with a rather flat look to enemies, but with a jump button and fully 3D aiming.
In terms of story, it’s a lot closer to the daft macho majesty of Duke Nukem 3D. A crack team of soldiers is sent into the ancient Egyptian city of Karnak to battle an invading alien force called the Killmat. These insectile foes have desecrated the African dunes by roping in the local wildlife, such as scorpions, and digging up some old Mummies and Anubis soldiers as well. All that stands between them and world domination is a hefty arsenal and the soothing words of King Ramses’ spirit.
A Pharoah Game
So what makes PowerSlave stand out from a legion of mid-90s shooters? Well, the Egyptian setting is probably the biggest draw. Compared to the rather drab genre-mates of the time, PowerSlave is positively Day-Glo. I’m a big fan of using ancient Egyptian history as a backdrop for things, so this was always my favorite thing about the original version. There are lots of blue skies and yellow sand to be found here, but it’s not a vacation experience. There’s a charm to the mixture of 3D and 2D elements that adds a suitably cheesy layer to a game that is essentially Aliens in the Desert.
While not exceptional when compared to the heavyweights of the day, PowerSlave continuously shows examples of really good level design, with satisfying looping pathways and secrets to uncover.
Also of note is the story. It’s not a masterful tour de force, but it tries to tell one beyond the usual ream of text before and after levels. Voice clips for Ramses’ spirit do most of the leg work, but at a time where voice audio was relatively sparse in games of this nature, it helps.
As for the gameplay, well, it’s quite clear that even with the magnificent work this port team does for old shooters (including the ability to actually save the game!), PowerSlave Exhumed cannot shake the ghosts of the past here. You can still very much tell that this was an early attempt at a 3D first-person shooter. Mostly because it struggles to make its freedom of movement count in traversal and in combat.
Needs a Nile Gun
Aiming lacks the smoothness found in something like Quake, or even Turok (Quake came out the same year as the Saturn version of PowerSlave), and the player’s hitbox feels oddly inconsistent. I’m sure it’s more fluid now than the original was (looking back at footage of that, it certainly seems so), but it’s a tad fudgy and slow to react by modern standards, despite moving at a fair old canter otherwise. It’s decent enough in mid-range combat, but extremely fussy at close range against smaller enemies and at long range for pretty much everything.
The enemies are another issue, early on at least. Kicking off with diminutive threats such as birds, spiders, and scorpions is honestly a bit underwhelming, and they outstay their welcome pretty fast. The threadbare enemy roster is spread thin to compensate, and makes early levels tiresome. It’s a shame because when PowerSlave Exhumed does break out the big boys, they’re well designed and impactful.
Xeno Evil
While the game itself hasn’t aged particularly well in every sense, the work done by Nightdive to modernize it respectfully is commendable. Visually it’s been cleaned up and had a few rough edges smoothed out without polluting the original design, and there’s no denying that every effort has been made to tighten the controls in much the same way it did with last year’s Quake remaster. Short of messing with the core of what made PowerSlave Exhumed the game it is, there’s probably little else that could make it more appealing.
I suppose part of the problem lies in the fact this isn’t on the same cultural impact level as previous ports. Of the handful of FPS titles that were released on Sega Saturn around the same time, PowerSlave isn’t exactly Doom or Hexen: Beyond Heretic. All the same, it’s pleasing to see such an effort made with a fairly niche shooter.
PowerSlave Exhumed review code for PS4 provided by the publisher.
PowerSlave Exhumed is out on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC now.
The sweet delight of a Lifetime film is knowing exactly what’s going to happen at any given time. It’s familiar in a reassuring way, which is why He Couldn’t Let Go proves to be a quintessential Lifetime title. There are no surprises to be found here: the story beats are all anticipated, and the reveals are heavily telegraphed, and that’s totally fine.
On the surface, Mariana Cruz (Christina Milian) has a great life. She’s the Head of Personnel at Pana Optic Security, where she’s introduced calmly and confidently dealing with Herbert (Andrew E. Wheeler), a predatory CFO who has abused his company status with a female subordinate. It’s a lengthy sequence, but one that serves to both introduce Mariana’s talent for reading body language, as well as what appears to be the film’s antagonist.
It’s the former aspect that provided the film’s original title, and director Cory Miller provides ample visual cues to help the audience see the world through Mariana’s eyes. Tight close-ups on Herbert’s hands as he fiddles with his cufflinks, or the movement of his feet, confirm when he’s lying, all of which is clocked by Mariana and then unsubtly confirmed by screenwriter Robert Belushi’s dialogue: “Your mouth can lie, but your body won’t”.
After Herbert escapes security and flees the building, He Couldn’t Let Go resets to flesh out the rest of Mariana’s life, including her relationship with hunky fiancé Nick (Gregg Wayans); a plucky best friend in co-worker Fay (Annie Gonzalez); and a beautiful, semi-isolated home in the burbs.
The plot kicks back into gear when Nick is delayed at work, and Mariana is forced to entertain his old College friend Dylan (Steven Strait), a chef visiting from Hong Kong. Shocking no one, there’s nothing but red flags when it comes to Dylan. He’s too perfect: he cooks a near-perfect mofongo, a favorite dish of Mariana’s; he’s familiar with her Bogotá hangouts, and he’s ready to learn salsa moves from her in the living room.
But Mariana’s FBI training (!) means that eventually she begins to pick up on his deceptive body language, and, as the evening progresses, she chips away at his pat answers. What keeps this cat-and-mouse section interesting, since we obviously know there’s more to Dylan than he’s letting on, is how Dylan manages to subtly get under Mariana’s skin while she’s reading him.
Dylan does so by undermining her faith in Nick by suggesting that he has a questionable past, which deftly ties back to the events of the opening with Herbert. The questions Dylan raises also allow the introduction of Calvin (screenwriter Belushi), a red shirt who is called into action when Mariana covertly tries to fact check Dylan’s claims about Nick.
Of course, there’s never any doubt about who will meet a violent end or where the true danger lies. This means that despite the brief 90-minute runtime, the film’s second act drags a little because we’re waiting for the profiler to catch up to what the audience already knows.*
*Sidebar: It’s here that the FBI training element doesn’t fully work because it takes Mariana far too long to catch on to Dylan.
Thankfully, the last act kicks the violence into overdrive as the house becomes a battlefield. While one wishes that Milian was given more to do in the first two acts than simply react to Dylan’s revelations, the character never comes off as dumb. In fact, there are several moments when she makes the best possible decision available and circumstances – or Dylan – cut her off at the pass.
The reveal about who Dylan is and what he wants isn’t particularly revelatory, but the extended climax, which features several chases and violent set pieces, is effective. Milian and Strait also have good chemistry, which helps to carry the saggy pacing of the middle stretch, while the height difference between the actors ensures that Dylan is appropriately menacing when they’re in close quarters.
Aside from the surprising detail about Mariana’s FBI training, He Couldn’t Let Me Go doesn’t stray far from the typical Lifetime formula. For fans of domestic thrillers, however, that won’t be an issue; there’s comfort to be found in these kinds of narratives, so why mess with a good thing?
He Couldn’t Let Go premiered on Lifetime Movie Network on July 11.
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